Grading Bilal Coulibaly's rookie season

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 After being diagnosed with a right wrist fracture, (the Washington Wizards's 2023 number one pick) Bilal Coulibaly is set to rest for the remainder of the season. This feels like this is a good time to do a retrospective of his year.


My first “encounter” with Bilal Coulibaly wasn’t on draft night. Unlike many Wizards fans, I live in Paris and had the chance to see Coulibaly’s former team, Mets 92, in a playoff game. While everybody at the game was focusing on a 7 '5 alien/the new coming of Kevin Durant (rightfully so), I kept an eye on the young wing Coulibaly. Bilal had started the season with the under-21s, but he quickly gained coach Vincent Collet’s confidence, and towards the end of the season Coulibaly was climbing more and more in mock drafts.


Trading the 8th pick for the Pacers’ seventh pick with supplementary compensation, the new Wizard's front office took a gamble and drafted Coulibaly, setting the tone for the new regime in place led by Michael Winger.


This came as a huge surprise for me, I was a big fan of Bilal having followed him all season long. This time, The Wiz decided to finally switch up the narrative, picking an “unproven” player from overseas with a high ceiling.


Historically, the Wizards avoided taking risks and prioritized using their 1st round picks on college players with low ceilings but whom we knew would end up being solid role players/rotation guys at best (Johnny Davis from Wisconsin with the 10th pick last year or Corey Kispert from Gonzaga the year before with our 15th pick).


Bilal goes against that scheme. He’s the third youngest player in the NBA and is still growing

(currently listed at 6’8). Going into this year, the expectations were low for Bilal, he was seen as a “project” player, but Bilal completely proved the critics wrong, by showing how he could implement his experience from playing professional basketball in France while showcasing how NBA-ready he already was.


Bilal’s 3-point shooting proved better than advertised. He averaged 34.6% from three and 39.3% from corner threes, in comparison to the Thompson twins (Ausar & Amen) who were drafted before him averaged 18.6% and 15.4% from three respectively.

People also said Coulibaly needed to work on his jumper, but with a true shooting percentage of 54.4%, his problems are somewhat mitigated.


What stands out with Coulibaly is his defense. Usually, something rookies have major problems with, Coulibaly is already shown he’s more than NBA-ready, with a ceiling being all defensive team.


If he can develop his offensive game, the sky's the limit and he could become a Mikal Bridges,

Paul George-type player.


Bilal suffered from coach Wes Unseld Jr. not involving him in any offensive scheme at the

start of the season. Next year I look forward to Bilal being more aggressive and developing his

scoring game.


My pro comp for Coulibaly coming into season was OG Anunoby, another great wing defender, with a long wingspan that can provide rim protection, perimeter defense, blocks and steals. 


Bilal Coulibaly is young and some insiders claim he is still growing. My perception of Bilal has not changed since I saw him play in Paris last year. There is a strong chance he can become one of the best wings in the league.


For once, it seems, the Wizards have a young drafted player that they can build around, what a refreshing thought. 


Grade of draft : B+

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